Small Town Life

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Black Magic Cake with PB Frosting

Wedding planning has officially taken over my life, and the few moments I had to blog apparently!! So to make up for it, I decided that I would participate in this months Crazy Cooking Challenge hosted by Mom's Crazy Cooking. I had to sit out the last few months due to holidays and wedding planning, and this month I volunteered myself to make a cake for a fellow employee's birthday. Perfect timing, because the challenge this month was finding THE ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE CAKE!

I set out to find the perfect most yummy sounding/looking Chocolate Cake, and I found one over at Edible Moments. She called it Decadent Chocolate Cake with Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting. The original recipe was adapted from Hershey's, which is called Black Magic Cake. This cake is totally magical, so I decided to use the original name!! :)

I was surprised the cake wasn't too sweet; it was perfect, and the same way with the frosting. I thought maybe it would put it over the top, but it didn't.

Confession time...after I whipped up the frosting, I realized that I didn't add in enough milk according to the recipe (only used 2 tbsp at first). Which looking back, I should have left it as it was. Anyways, so I proceeded to add another tablespoon of milk and something weird happened to it. It's hard to explain. So I added in a smidgen more milk and a little more powdered sugar thinking it would go back to normal. Wrong. It looked odd, but still tasted great. Not really sure what had happened, but when I went to ice the cake it didn't spread well at all. I made it work though, and it wasn't pretty at all. So I decided to add the chocolate drizzle, along with some chopped Reeses PB Cups. That helped the looks of the cake, and made it even more magical tasting!!

So I had a minor mishap, but it still turned out to be amazing!! Everyone loved it and was raving about it. It was very moist, the perfect sweetness, and creamy! Don't let my little mess up turn you away, this is definitely THE CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE to try!! ;)

Cake Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk*
1 cup strong black coffee OR 2 teaspoons powdered instant coffee plus 1 cup boiling water (I used fresh brewed coffee)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
PB Frosting
Chocolate Drizzle
12 mini Reeses PB Cups, chopped

Cake Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes (batter will be thin). Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost as desired, top with chocolate drizzle and chopped mini Reeses PB Cups.
4. Store covered in refrigerator until ready to serve.
*If you don't have buttermilk, add 1 tbsp white vinegar OR 1 tbsp lemon juice to regular milk (I used lemon juice)

Peanut Butter Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Frosting Directions:
Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.

*You can also add in about 1/2 tsp Meringue Powder....just to help it stiffen up and crust a tad more. I didn't do this, completely optional

Chocolate Drizzle Ingredients:
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp margarine
1tbsp light corn syrup

Chocolate Drizzle Directions:
Put all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and put in microwave for 30 seconds. Take out and stir, you might need to put back in for an additional 15 seconds and stir until melted down. Don't put it in much longer than that, you will end up with burned chocolate. Drizzle over cake as desired.

Also linking up too...

At Home With Haley
It's A Blog Party
The Girl Creative
Today's Creative Blog
Not So Homemade
The Shabby Creek Cottage
What Allie's Making Now
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home
The Sisters of the Wild West
Polka Dots on Parade
This Chick Cooks
Ginger Snap Crafts
Homemaker on a Dime
My Favorite Finds

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Save The Date Postcard

I feel like I've been in hibernation mode lately, but I really haven't. We are a little less than 3 months out from our wedding, and I have been trying to focus on that. We sent out our Save The Dates at the first of the year, and I'm finally getting around to blogging about them.

D's Aunt Hatty and I designed these cute postcards back in November when I went to see her. We spent a lot of hours trying to come up with something that we loved. After I left that Sunday morning she added a few simple finishing touches, printed them out, rounded the edges, and hand delivered them to me. When I saw them for the first time on Christmas Eve, I.was.in.love. Yes, totally and completely!! She in one talented lady, and so excited that I soon will be her niece!!

I can't tell you the graphic program that she used, but I can tell you that we downloaded the calligraphy font from dafont.com for free! Yes...I said free, people! If you haven't checked out that website, I suggest you do so. Back to the postcards...we were inspired from a few pins my Wedding Pinterest board, a recent Save The Date Magnet she received, some clip art on her computer, and even a few margarita's!! LOL! We used one of my favorite Engagement Pictures on the front, and added more text on the back to make it appear like a post card. We used a cream colored linen type cardstock paper, so it gave it a vintage feel. I just love how everything came together and was just as I envisioned them to be! We've finalized the invitations, and I can't wait to send those out!!

What do you think? Just curious...did you design & print your own Save The Dates, or did you have them made up by a larger company? Let me know if you have any specific questions!!

Linking up too...
It's A Blog Party
The Girl Creative
Today's Creative Blog
The Shabby Chic Cottage
What Allie's Making Now
Somewhat Simple
Lovely Crafty Home
The Sisters of the Wild West
Polka Dots on Parade
Ginger Snap Crafts
Not So Homemade

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Silhouette Cameo Giveaway!!!

Yep, that's right...Expressions Vinyl is giving away a Silhouette Cameo to one luckly person!

And that lucky person could be YOU!!

They will announce the winner January 25th, so head on over to the Silhouette Cameo page
and check out how you can win!

Friday, January 6, 2012

I was featured!

Just a quick post to let you all know that my Fabulous Earring Holder was featured over at

Jewelry Display Ideas today!!!

Click here to go check it out!

Old Cabinet Door to Fabulous Earring Holder

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Happy New Year...excuse my lack of posting

Hey ya'll!! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a fun New Years! We sure did...it's was crazy, on the go the whole time, but we still enjoyed it!

Christmas was great! We were able to spend some time with both of our families, ate way too much food, and received some wonderful gifts. D was a little spoiled by me this year, but then again so was I! I got him some hunting stuff he's been wanting, tickets to George Strait & Martina McBride (on his bday weekend in February, holler!), new pair of Oakley's, and some other odds 'n ends for our shed. I think I'm more excited about going to see Gorgeous Strait more than he is...after all this will be our 3rd time seeing him. Ya'll know that's how D and I met, right?! So yes, this is extra special!! He got me some bLinG bLiNg for my ears! I've been wanting some nice studs for a long time, so excited that I finally got them!

New Years was such a blast! First I spent all day cleaning, tearing down Christmas decor, and getting our house back in order. Then I cooked D and I some Chicken Fried Steaks for supper, and we eventually made it out the door to celebrate with our friends. We stayed out way too late, so the next day wasn't as fun! We pretty much lounged all day, took naps, and watched tv. Monday we didn't have to work so we lounged in the morning, looked at Honeymoon stuff, and then I finished my cleaning in the afternoon. It was a great day! We came back to work on Tuesday, but I wasn't ready to come back.

I've been really busy with wedding planning....we are under 4 months away, I can't believe it! Save The Dates are a little behind schedule, but are going out today and tomorrow. We are this close to booking our Honeymoon in the Bahama's. I've been googling, pinning, and brainstorming like crazy for decorations, flowers, etc. My mind has been going non-stop lately, I kind of feel like I'm in a whirlwind! Me and the girls picked out a date for my bachelorette party and 1 of my showers for the end of March.

So yes, it's been a little hectic around here, which is why I haven't been blogging much. Hoping to change that, or at least get 1 post in a week from here until April...I will try, but no promises!! Hope you are having a great start to the New Year!! :)

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks to catch you up (Chiefs game, Christmas, and New Years)...